Questions about early Mac's

[Sanman]

Hi,

I have some Macs in my collection that I have some questions about, hope someone can help. I have two 512k's one has a model# M0001W and one has a model# M0001E, what is the difference between the two machines?

I also have a Macintosh SE SuperDrive and a Macintosh FDHD, what is the difference between these two machines.

Thanks for your help, Ed :beige:

 

[Mac128]

M0001W is the original 1984 512K Mac with 64K ROMs and 400K Single Sided drive

M0001E is the updated 1986 512K with 128K ROMs and 800K Double Sided drive

FDHD (Floppy Disk High Desnsity) is what Apple originally called the SuperDrive. It is the same thing.

When you say you have an SE "SuperDrive" does it actually say that on the case? I assume the FDHD is also an SE, which is typically how I've seen the SE FDHD branded since 1989.

If your "SuperDrive" SE contains a SuperDrive but is only labeled "SE" on the front, then likely it began life as an 800K Double Sided drive SE and has since had its ROMs and IWM chips upgraded with the SWIM package (the chips that make floppy disk storage possible). The only way to tell for sure is to open up the case and look at the logic boards.

 

[Sanman]

Thanks Mac128,

The FDHD computer has Macintosh SE FDHD silkscreened on the front,

the SuperDrive has Macintosh SE SuperDrive silkscreened on the front,

is there some site I can go to to find out this information without having to bother you?

Thanks for your help, Ed :beige:

 

[TheNixer]

Ed, you won't bother us talking about Macs. Especially compact Macs! There are several websites that detail the history of the Macintosh, though I'm not sure any of them would have answered your specific questions.

Check out this Wiki link, it also has some good links about the Mac SE at the end of the article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_SE

We're always happy to help with your questions though.

 

[Scott Baret]

Your SE SuperDrive is likely a mid 1990 to early 1991 SE. (Yes, they made them through early 1991 despite what everyone says, I have one with a 1991 date as proof). I think they went to the SuperDrive badge because a lot of people would be confused by the random letters FDHD, which every SE from August 1989 until the SuperDrive printing began has.

 

[Sanman]

Scott,

You are right my SE Super Drive was manufactured early 1991.

Nixer,

Thanks for the link, great information.

This is my story, I have about 30 early Mac's, 128k's to SE's, now that the kids are grown and gone (the wife too) I have a spare room that I just painted and installed a bunch of shelfs and I am in the process of cleaning them and testing them before I fill the shelfs.

I also have about 30 Apple II's, III's, IIe's, IIc's, IIgs's, Lisa's for the other side of the room.

Thanks for your help guy's, Ed :beige:

 

[equant]

*Drool*

 

[TheNixer]

Good grief man, your post made me feel like I stepped into a dream. You've gotta post some pictures when you're done.

 

[Mac128]

Your SE SuperDrive is likely a mid 1990 to early 1991 SE. (Yes, they made them through early 1991 despite what everyone says, I have one with a 1991 date as proof).

The reason everyone says that is because Apple has several important dates in the life of a product.

The date they announced a product.

The date they introduced or shipped a product.

The date they discontinued the product.

The date they actually stopped taking orders and removed it from the price list.

The date they shut down the assembly line and stopped manufacturing it.

The reason we all agree on announced and discontinuation dates to determine the life of a Mac is because most of the time those are the only published dates. It ain't perfect but it's reliable. I'm not sure why everyone gets so heated about it.

 

[Mac128]

I think they went to the SuperDrive badge because a lot of people would be confused by the random letters FDHD, which every SE from August 1989 until the SuperDrive printing began has.

The External FDHD has it as well. I'd love to know if they changed that as well.

One has to remember that aside from the PS/2, Apple was one of the only computer makers introducing the new HD format. Despite thorough documentation, it was and still is a troublesome conversion from SD & DD drives to HD. Floppy drives were already known as FDs or FDDs. Adding HD helped get the HD terminology out there, not to mention printing it on the floppy disks themselves. In the end, SuperDrive doesn't really tell the customer anything either, but it is a cool name and a Trademark so valuable that Apple re-used it on the current combo drives, which you recall were called all kinds of goofy things until they became SuperDrives. However, you did know what they were as a result previously being known as "Combo DVD/CD-RW Drives". They may have thought of SuperDrive to begin with and wanted to solidify the change to HD, or they may have changed it later because the FDHD was so much more than just a High Density drive and yes possibly confusing. Either way, telling your PC buddies you have a SuperDrive beats the pants off their HD drive.

Also, Wiki says that the SE FDHD was sold as the SE 1/20 only in Europe. There's no citation, so I don't know how accurate that is, though I do know it exists. Nevertheless it makes sense sense as neither FDHD or SuperDrive may have meant as much across various languages. It also conforms with how they marketed the 512Ke as 512K/800 in Europe.

 

[Scott Baret]

Just thought of the most likely reason they changed the name...

If you look at your SE FDHD, the "HD" is in different style lettering. They indeed sold dual floppy SE FDHDs, and perhaps some falsely believed there was a hard drive inside those.

 

[Mac128]

True, but that was a relatively uncommon configuration. The standard version was a SuperDrive and 40MB HD. Even the Mac IIs and SEs that had warranty repairs on their 20MB drives were replaced by 40MB at no charge. Any confusion over what the stylized "HD" meant (which was the same font style used to label HD disks), would have only supported most of the SEs with HDs being sold at the time. Certainly the SE/30 didn't make any sense for the average consumer either ... Did it have a 30MB HD? Did the SE 1/20 have a 68020 processor? Clearly Apple was going through an identity crisis.